Lips Stay Weird, W.K. Uninvited and Rihanna's Bad Trip

A Long Strange MonthWhat’s it like to be a member of Psychedelic Pop cult heroes The
Flaming Lips? November’s Lips’ headlines offered a fittingly bizarre
glimpse. The band saw its Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots album turned into a stage musical, released a full remake of King Crimson’s debut album and headed up a War of the Worlds-like
“radio drama” broadcast (in conjunction with McSweeney’s) called “Wayne
Coyne’s Human Head-Shaped Tumor.” Frontman Coyne also found time to
shut down an entire terminal of the Oklahoma City airport after a
grenade was found in his luggage (the “gift”was
eventually determined to be deactivated). An inconvenienced traveler
suggested payback in the form of an acid trip with Coyne and Yoko Ono.
Coyne told Pitchfork he was down for the trip. Hopefully a grenade-free
one this time. (If you'd like your very own replica of the grenade, click here.)

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wrote online that he was asked by
the State Department to go to the Middle East as part of a cultural
exchange program — to be what he called the “Cultural Ambassador of
Partying” — it seemed too weird to be true. That didn’t stop numerous
websites (including Pitchfork and The Huffington Post) from running with
stories about W.K.’s deployment based solely on that one post. Other
outlets decided to verify W.K.’s claims; the DCist blog was told by
officials that, while W.K. was invited to visit an embassy in
Bahrain, the invitation was rescinded once officials checked out his
“wild oeuvre.” W.K. tweeted his disappointment that the trip was
cancelled, saying it was because he’s “too party.”

COLD

The Not-Particularly-Friendly SkiesPop megastar Rihanna doesn’t need a costly publicity stunt to sell albums, but Def Jam still arranged an outlandish onerecently.
The ambitious “777 Tour” took the singer to seven countries for seven
concerts in seven days on a 777 jet. The label invited 150 entertainment
reporters to tag along, promising face time with the largely press-shy
singer, but reports from the trip were more “nightmare travelogue” than
“exclusive superstar profile,” as the press corps became increasingly
frustrated with the total lack of access to the star. So if you make the
press hate you, does it hurt sales? No. The album, ironically titled Unapologetic,